I don't remember who "outed" this bike (2209607503), but I'm having some trouble seeing the value proposition (It is above $1300 now). I gave Beloved Spouse an Atala from about 1960 as an engagement present (in 67), one with Columbus DB tubing and that exact (I think) set of cast (?) lugs with huge windows.
Maybe that's what a Simplex 543 and a handpainted (?) matching front are worth, though.
I could be wrong, but it looks to me from the lovely pictures that the bike might have been originally all blue, with the greyish olive applied over it. What brings me to ask is the blue on the rear drop-outs, and the suggestion of blue just behind the upper head lug in one picture. And, of course, the way the downtube panel was preserved. I wonder what color is under the front dreailleur? I'm hardly an expert on that vintage of any bike, but somehow olive drab is not what I associate with the Italian bikes of the next decade.
Otherwise, it does rival the most patina-enriched bike in my fleet!
From the fact that sellers other auctions are all model railroad stuff, I certainly don't want to accuse him/her of any deception (particularly given the wonderful photos), but I confess to some confusion about the bidding.
harvey sachs
mcLean va